PennScan

The Scandinavian Society of the University of Pennsylvania

President: Tuua Ruutiainen
tuua (at) sas.upenn.edu

I am a senior at Penn majoring in Biological Basis of Behavior and minoring in French. I was born in Turku, Finland and visit my family there frequently. My visits have left me with a love for Karelian pastries and salmiakki (black candy made of ammounium chloride). I revel in chasing after anyone on campus who has a Marimekko bag, in my overzealous quest to meet other Scandinavians. I started PennScan, after I discovered that a surprisingly large number of people on campus have connections to or are interested in Scandinavia. Outside of PennScan, I enjoy playing the harp, studying bioethics, and visiting historical houses.

Vice President: Monica Thomas
monicave (at) seas.upenn.edu

Hello! My name is Monica...I'm blonde, blue eyed, and I speak a Germanic language - so I guess I perfectly fit every stereotype relevant to this organization, minus the Viking horns. Steriotypes aside, I was born in Finland and speak Swedish; in Finland I am what we call a fenno-swede. I'm a senior majoring in mechanical engineering and interested in robotics - my house pet is a robotic vacuum cleaner fondly referred to as "Bosley." Additionally, I support a very serious campaign to convince Penn's campus that the temperature of a real sauna can in fact exceed 100 degrees Celsius, NOT Fahrenheit.

Secretary: Hannah Tokerud
tokerud (at) sas.upenn.edu

Yes, I'm named Hannah, and I am really from Montana. Thank you, Miley Cyrus. I'm a rising senior who's studying political science and French, and I'm the director of communications for the PennScan board. I grew up attending the local Sons of Norway heritage events and eating lefse and lutefisk (fish soaked in lye, for those of you who don't know, and, yes, it's delicious). I studied abroad in Lahti, Finland for a year during high school and absolutely loved it. The only problem is that I'm left with an intermediate vocabulary in Finnish (so useful) and a constant desire to prove that I have sisu. My favorite things include traveling, sauna, apple pie, naps, Penn and the Beatles.

Treasurer: Thomas Lindh
lindhtc (at) wharton.upenn.edu

I'm Tom (you can call me Thomas only if you can pronounce it correctly) and I'm a junior majoring in finance and math. I'm a finlandsvensk, a Swedish-speaking Finn, and aside from meatballs and gravlax I enjoy playing golf, golf, and more golf. By the way, is Tiger on sports center right now? His wife is Swedish!

Co-Director of Social Development: Melissa Metelits
melisse (at) sas.upenn.edu

Melissa Metelits finds herself on the board of this lovely secret society despite the fact that she's not Scandinavian (she's just in it for the foreign films and the Salmiaki). However, she is looking for a Scandinavian husband to legitimize her position. If anyone is interested, please send a resume and a cover letter to melisse(at)sas.upenn.edu. Thank you, and kauniita unia.

Co-Director of Social Development: Alex Gray
alexgray (at) sas.upenn.edu

Tervetuloa kaikki! I’m Alex and I’m a rising sophomore this year at Penn currently studying Romance Languages (French and Italian) and International Relations. Born and raised in Los Angeles, I grew up in the Finnish American community with my grandmother always telling me more and more about my heritage. I took kantale lessons as a little girl, baked pulla with my grandma, always carried the Finnish flag at the Los Angeles Scandinavian Festival, and had the great opportunity to attend Salolampi for seven summers. But most of all, like Tuua, I love chasing Marimekko every time I see it. In fact, that’s how I found PennScan!

Past Events